My Life in Ningbo. China at The University of Nottingham

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Traveling: Yuyao

My final trip of the winter break: Yuyao! Yuyao is in the countryside of Zhejiang, not too far away from Siming mountain. Even though I hadn’t left the province before my home stays started, I felt like there was so much more to see than Ningbo, so I chose to stay with a new friend in Yuyao about 2 hours away from school.

After Harbin, I came back to school for a few days to head to Yuyao, just in time for the Spring Festival or more commonly known as the Chinese New Year. Last year, I celebrated Chinese New Year with Project Pengyou at USF, but this time I got the chance to see how Chinese families spend the new year.

On the first day, my host family prepared a meal for their ancestors and prayed for them before my host mother’s family came for lunch and dinner. We visited a strawberry farm and went to a small town fair. There’s not much that goes on in the countryside for new year except for Mahjong and eating. Gambling and eating must be family holiday essentials no matter where you go in the world.

Since my birthday was approaching, my friend made homemade cakes for me!

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The next days were spent visiting family friends in Siming mountain and going back and forth between my host mother’s and father’s family. Other than eating, I enjoyed watching the fireworks and attempting to talk to my host families. I still have a long way to go with Chinese, but I’m making progress!

I really enjoyed spring festival and it almost made up for missing out on the winter holidays with my own family. When I get back, I’ll appreciate Thanksgiving and Christmas more than I already do. Surely though, I will be dreaming about the fried spring rolls next Spring Festival!